The struggle of the reborn prince

Entering October, Zhao Tun left behind a group of Northwest Forbidden Army who had been taken care of by him, and drove to Linhuang Mansion by himself. It was also difficult to sleep and eat, and everyone was relieved when he left. ?. .But for the Song Army, the matter was not over yet. Zhao Tong left the privy envoy Zhao Yi in Dading to preside over the summary meeting of the autumn performance, supervise the generals to find mistakes in the battle, and find solutions so as to achieve a breakthrough. , rather than going through the motions.

The reason why Zhao Tun came to Linhuang Mansion was mainly because of Yu Liyan and Zhao Xin, because it was the time for the Khitan people to "sacrifice to the mountain" once a year, and this ceremony had an important status for the Khitan people.According to legend, this ceremony was instituted by Hula Khan of the Khitan Yaonian family. Heishan and Muyeshan were used as the sacred mountains, and sacrifices were made according to the seasons.The Khitan people regard Montenegro as the destination of the soul after death, and the residence of the god of the Khitan people, the God of Heishan, who is in charge of the soul of the Khitan people. There are gods of heaven and earth, and Abaoji, the first emperor of Liao Dynasty, was also buried in the bone mountain. It is a sacred place for the unity of heaven and man.

When Zhao Tong arrived at Linhuang Mansion, the Khitan survivors who usually live scattered all over the place had already gathered here, and the former Wujing nobles paid tribute to a large number of sacrifices as usual.His original intention to come here was just to fulfill an unfulfilled wish of the two imperial concubines as a spectator, and he had no intention of getting involved. The Khitan descendant clan jointly requested the emperor to preside over the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the mountain.As soon as this table was displayed, not only Zhao Tun was very surprised, but also a group of ministers who followed him.The ceremony of offering sacrifices to the mountains was placed at the top of the auspicious rituals in the "Rituals" of the original Liao Kingdom, and the most important rites of the country, such as Chai Ceyi, which announced the new Khitan emperor's enthronement, came second. The grand ceremony, the sacrificial scene far exceeds other relatively simple etiquette systems, and the solemn and grand etiquette process of offering sacrifices to mountains is presided over by the Khitan emperor and empress.

The ceremony of offering sacrifices to mountains is based on the Khitan people's concept of adoring mountains. After a hundred years, it has integrated the connotation of Central Plains culture, which has extremely important political significance.To a certain extent, the Khitan Mountain Ritual includes the core parts of rituals such as Chaichuyi, Sun Worshiping Ritual, and Temple Announcing Ritual; The idea of ​​supremacy of power reflects the centripetal force of the nation.

Although Zhao Tun is the emperor, for the Khitan people, he ruled the old land of Liao no matter whether he was an "invader" or a "liberator".Still marrying the princess and princess of Khitan, psychologically speaking, he should be an 'outsider', a ruler of a foreign race, not an 'emperor' in the true sense.Now the Khitan survivors have invited Zhao Tun to preside over the mountain sacrifice ceremony with profound political and cultural connotations. rule, and the Khitan people are also willing to become the people under the Song Dynasty... Now the Khitan people have expressed their sincere intention to return to the Song Dynasty by inviting Zhao Tun to preside over the "Mountain Sacrifice Ceremony".At the beginning, Zhao Tong was very surprised, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it went smoothly.He knew that various nationalities in history have been divided and combined with each other, gathered and dispersed, intricate and complicated, but there are no more than two ways for one nation to unite with another:

One is to use political coercive means to merge one nation with another, learn their language and script, and believe in their religion, that is, 'assimilation'; the other is through economic and cultural effects.With the development of history, the social economy and life style of the nation are naturally changed, and the clothing, language and customs are integrated with other nations, that is, national "fusion".

The Liao regime established by the Khitan people occupied the territory from the Sea of ​​Japan in the east, to the west of the Altai Mountains in the west, and to Lake Baikal in the north.South to the vast area inside and outside the Great Wall, its central force is in the Youyun area on the Great Wall belt.And every battle in history, with the acquisition of control of the occupied area by a certain ethnic regime.In order to achieve the existence of the conquering nation in the conquered and occupied areas, a large number of people of the same nation will be migrated to live, operate and develop, broaden the survival and rule of the nation, and expand the influence of the nation, in order to achieve the goal of long-term stability.

Because of this, a large number of Khitan people who originally lived in the northern grasslands moved southward, and at the same time a large number of residents were relocated along the Great Wall under the rule of the Liao Dynasty, forming a situation where Han people, Khitan people, Bohai people and other ethnic groups lived together.Forms that complicate national identity.This actually laid the foundation for the integration of the Khitan and Han peoples.During this period, although wars and conflicts continued between the two major political entities of Song and Liao.However, most of the time spent in peaceful coexistence, especially after the signing of the "Chanyuan Alliance", the two countries have maintained peace for a hundred years.

During the peaceful coexistence of Song and Liao, the two countries carried out frequent exchanges through mutual sending of envoys, tribute, mutual market, marriage, etc., and carried out more extensive economic and cultural exchanges.The rulers of the Liao Kingdom realized that the advanced nature of the Central Plains civilization was inevitably affected, and began to actively absorb and learn Han culture. The state system and behavior were changed and gradually Sinicized.Under their rule, the people of various ethnic groups lived together. With the development of history, cultural characteristics such as social economy, life, language, clothing and customs were integrated with other ethnic groups.

With the rise of the Jurchens and Zhao Ji's unrealistic ambitions, both Liao and Jin were hit, and the situation of peaceful coexistence was broken.The Liao Kingdom fell under the iron hooves of the Jurchens, and the capital city of the Song Dynasty was breached and was on the verge of destroying the country, and all of this was broken by the freak Zhao Tong who turned out to be.In order to find a place where he could gain a foothold and prevent the Jurchens from invading the northwest, he first secretly took advantage of the chaos to hide his identity and entered the Xijing area of ​​the Liao Kingdom to develop his own power.

When entering the Khitan's sphere of influence, Zhao Tun used the banner of "uniting to fight against gold". Of course, he also used some methods of sowing dissension in order to win the support of the local Han people, but generally speaking, he did not use indiscriminate killing.Later, in the battle of the Jurchens' invasion of Xijing Road, they showed their strength and offered favors to win people's hearts.Especially after persuading the captured Yelu Yuxi, he finally gradually gained the trust of the Khitan people and gained a firm foothold.

In the later stages of consolidation and expansion, Zhao Tun took advantage of the influence of Yelu Yuxi, the chaotic situation in which Emperor Yelu Yanxi of the Liao Dynasty was captured by the Jurchen, and the conflicts among various forces in Xijing. Use an accidental political marriage to start ruling the Khitans.During this period, Zhao Tuo showed strong military and economic strength, so that all parties had to rely on him. Although he was passive, it also enabled Zhao Tuo to complete the integration of the strength of all parties.

After Zhao Tun took control of Xijing, he did not reject the Khitan nobles, but still reused them and gave them a certain amount of trust.At the same time, he used land redistribution and the new military system to win the support and trust of the people at the bottom of Khitan.After he came to Xijing from Tokyo, he became the new master of Canliao with the support of Yelu Yuxi and Yu Liyan.Zhao Tun continued to use the pressure brought by the Jurchens and the Great Song Dynasty to Khitan to recruit and unite the various forces of Khitan to fight against Jin and develop the economy, and won the respect of all parties with his ability to govern the country and military command.

After Zhao Tong succeeded to the throne and became the emperor of the Song Dynasty, Yu Liyan led the people to return to the Song Dynasty, making Can Liao a territory of the Song Dynasty.To these "foreign races" who had supported him, Zhao Tong not only did not kill donkeys, but also rewarded them for their merits, retained the titles and official positions of those nobles, allowed them to retain a certain territory and private army, and exercise limited autonomy .Of course, ordinary Khitan people were not treated differently from Song people. They were allowed to own their own land and pastures, apply the same laws, pay the same taxes, and respect their religious beliefs.

In the following more than ten years, Zhao Tuo drove the Jurchens out of the Central Plains through several wars, regained four of the original five capitals of the Liao Kingdom, and occupied most of the homeland of the Liao Kingdom, but at this time the owner had been replaced by In addition to the Han nationality, the Khitan people have become subordinates.But the Khitan people have nothing but regrets. It is their own incompetence that led to the loss of the country. The Song Dynasty was taken back from the Jurchen, and the account cannot be credited to them. Instead, the Song people hurriedly gave them a Shelter.

As more Han people entered the Northwest, the Khitan people, who were already a small minority, became a real minority. However, the culture and policies of the Song Dynasty deeply attracted them, and the harmonious ethnic relations and gradually affluent life It also made them feel satisfied. Of course, no one missed the fatuous and incompetent Emperor of the Liao Dynasty and defected to Jurchen, whom they regarded as a barbarian.Over the past ten years, they have gradually made them forget the unrealistic idea of ​​restoring the country. During the severe drought last year, they also received relief, exempted taxes, and received more assistance. This moved them and decided to expand Song's people...

On the winter solstice of that year, Zhao Tun led the Khitan survivors to look northward to offer sacrifices to the Black Mountain, killing white sheep, white horses, and white geese, and using their blood and wine, they burned paper-made horses, horses, armor, etc. sent from various places as sacrifices to the mountain, praying for the blessing of the Black Mountain God. Bless the people of Khitan; on the [-]th, Zhao Tuo led the followers of Han Chen, the three fathers of the Khitan royal family and the heads of various ministries to Muye Mountain to worship with Khitan rituals. They circled the Shenmen tree three times to the sound of music, and everyone circled seven times.Then the incense is worshipped, the shaman gives a speech, and the wine and food are thrown eastward.After sacrificing to heaven and earth, Zhao Tun went to the Baiyi Guanyin Temple to pay homage to the family gods, burn incense and paper, and burn sacrificial rites, completing the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Zhao Tama hosted another feast for the leaders of the Khitan tribes and presented rewards.Three days later, Sheng Jia left the northwest and returned to the south, hurriedly hurried, and finally returned to Bianjing on the eve of New Year's Eve! )